GCSE French specification
GCSE French develops the ability to understand and communicate in French across the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, building practical communication, cultural awareness and a foundation in grammar and high-frequency vocabulary.
Assessed by four equally weighted components (Listening 25%, Speaking 25%, Reading 25%, Writing 25%), each typically 50 marks. Speaking is a teacher-conducted assessment (internally conducted, externally marked or moderated) comprising tasks such as a read-aloud, role-play and a photo/picture task with conversation; the new (2024) specifications also introduce a dictation task within the listening component, a discrete grammar/accuracy assessment objective (AO3) and a prescribed vocabulary word list. No written coursework/NEA in the conventional sense - the spoken assessment is the only non-written-exam element. All four papers sat at the end of the course in the same series.
High-level topics
The main areas of content and what a student is expected to know and do.
Talking about self, family, friends and relationships, daily routine, food and drink, health and well-being, and home life.
School life and subjects, the school day, education systems, and future study, training, jobs and career ambitions.
Hobbies, sport, music, film and television, technology and social media, celebrations, festivals and customs in French-speaking countries.
Holidays, travel and transport, accommodation, regions and countries, and describing places and experiences abroad.
The local town and environment, local and global environmental issues, social issues and contributing to society.
Understanding the main message, key points, details and opinions from spoken French (announcements, conversations, bulletins, podcasts), now including a dictation task in the new specs where students transcribe short spoken extracts with credit for accurate spelling.
Understanding written French of varying length and complexity, inferring meaning and opinions, and translating from French into English.
Teacher-conducted spoken assessment: reading aloud a short text, a role-play, and a photo/picture-based task leading into conversation, demonstrating spontaneous communication and pronunciation.
Producing written French from short structured responses to extended writing, plus translation from English into French, assessed for communication, range and grammatical accuracy.
Accurate application of a defined range of grammar (tenses, agreements, structures) and command of a prescribed, frequency-based vocabulary word list, now assessed explicitly via assessment objective AO3 in the 2024 specifications.
Exam boards
The awarding bodies that offer this qualification, how their papers are structured, and what's distinctive about each - with links to the official specification.
AQA GCSE French
Papers & assessment
New 2024 spec (first teaching Sept 2024, first exams 2026). 4 papers, each 25%: Paper 1 Listening (F 40 marks/~35 min, H 50 marks/~45 min, includes a dictation section - min 20 words at Foundation, 30 at Higher); Paper 2 Speaking (teacher-conducted, F up to 9 min, H up to 12 min - read-aloud, role-play, photo card + conversation); Paper 3 Reading (F 40/~35 min, H 50/~45 min, includes translation into English); Paper 4 Writing (includes translation into French). Tiered F/H, linear.
What's distinctive
Dictation sits within the Listening paper. Reduced number of speaking task cards (6 each of role-play, read-aloud and photo card per tier). Strong emphasis on the prescribed vocabulary word list and discrete grammar AO3. AQA is the largest MFL provider.
Specification
Past papers & mark schemes
Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) French
Papers & assessment
New 2024 spec (first teaching Sept 2024, first exams 2026). 4 papers, each 50 marks/25%: Paper 1 Speaking (teacher-conducted/externally assessed; F 7–9 min + 15 min prep, H 10–12 min + 15 min prep; read-aloud with short interaction, role-play, picture/conversation); Paper 2 Listening (F 45 min, H 60 min, includes dictation); Paper 3 Reading; Paper 4 Writing (F 1h15, H 1h20). Tiered F/H, linear.
What's distinctive
Numbers Speaking as Paper 1. Trialled extensively on ~800 students for accessibility; content and vocabulary contexts chosen to reflect diverse student experiences. Same DfE-mandated features (dictation, read-aloud, grammar AO, word list) as other boards.
Specification
Past papers & mark schemes
WJEC Eduqas GCSE French
Papers & assessment
New 2024 spec (first teaching Sept 2024, first exams 2026). Four skills each 25% with Speaking a non-examination, teacher-conducted assessment (read-aloud, role-play, unprepared speaking). Distinctively combines Reading and Dictation within a single longer (~2-hour) written paper rather than as separate components. Tiered F/H, linear.
What's distinctive
Combines dictation with reading in one paper; uses a wider range of question types and favours open-ended questions in English plus multiple choice at both tiers, with more questions per text/extract. Developed with the National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy (NCELP). Eduqas is the England-facing brand; WJEC offers the equivalent in Wales.
Specification
Past papers & mark schemes
All current boards (AQA, Pearson Edexcel, Eduqas/WJEC) teach the SAME reformed 2024 GCSE French - first taught September 2024, first examined summer 2026 - built to the same DfE subject content, so themes, the four equally weighted skills (25% each), tiering (Foundation/Higher) and the new features (dictation, read-aloud, a discrete grammar/accuracy AO3 and a prescribed high-frequency vocabulary word list) are common across boards. The meaningful differences are structural rather than topical. AQA (8652) places dictation inside the Listening paper, reduced its speaking task cards to six of each type, and numbers Speaking as Paper 2. Pearson Edexcel (1FR1) numbers Speaking as Paper 1, gives 50 marks per paper, and emphasises accessibility trialling and diverse content. Eduqas/WJEC combines Reading and Dictation into a single ~2-hour paper, leans on open-ended English-language and multiple-choice questions, and was developed with NCELP. OCR does NOT offer GCSE French (it withdrew from modern foreign languages in 2016). The exam-board choice therefore mainly affects paper sequencing, where dictation lives and question style - not what content a student learns.
Original sources
Straight from the awarding bodies - the specifications these summaries are drawn from.
Looking at other subjects?
Every GCSE we cover has a guide like this - topics, boards and what to expect.
All subject guidesLooking for A-level subjects?
A-level guides like these live on ALevelwiz - same family, same account, built for A-level students.
Visit alevelwiz.com